Banning fox pens only humane way to go

You don't have to be an animal lover to find dogfighting cruel and despicable, or to support laws that outlaw such barbarism — the Michael Vicks of the world aside.

But what if the animal set up to lose in the blood sport of choice was not another pit bull but a coyote or a fox? And not one running free in the wild, but trapped and trucked in from another state in cramped cages, tossed into a fenced-in enclosure and chased by a pack of dogs, sometimes as many as 300, with all escape routes closed off.

This is not only happening in 21st century America, it is happening today, in Florida. And it is permitted in some form or fashion by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

All that may end today, if the commission makes the right call. Because to think that a state agency can design regulations that can somehow turn a brutal death march into a legitimate sport is futility at its finest.

That's what Florida wildlife officials attempted as far back as 1991, when they permitted as many as 15 so-called fox pens. Of course, 43 pens were in operation, because many were operating illegally, and still are. And rules that try to bring some measure of sanity to the "sport" — like allowing an escape route for the prey, banning any animals from being trapped and brought in from out of state, and requiring documentation of humane treatment — haven't worked, because they are routinely ignored, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

In 1994, a Texas strain of rabies broke out in a Florida fox pen, and neighbors — hunters included —of various pens over the years have complained about the vicious, cruel nature of a business that sees vulnerable animals ripped to shreds with impunity.

Is there any wonder that, with the wholesale destruction of the animals used, pen operators would be illegally trucking in new prey to stock their trade? That's what the FWC found out after extensive investigations, culminating in the November arrest of 12 people for illegally possessing foxes and coyotes and in a moratorium on issuing any new pen permits until the commission can decide how to proceed.

That decision is due at the commission's meeting today, and the only sane, legitimate answer is to recognize this "sport" for its innate cruelty and ban it.